Publisher Robert Harrison's Statement About
the Trial (Confidential,
September 1957)

Hollywood
vs. Confidential

A
Publisher’s Statement:

California
has accused us of a crime --the crime of
telling the truth!

THATTHIS
MAGAZINE IS UNDER ASSAULT in the California courts is, we assume, a
fact known
to most of our nine million readers. We have been indicted by a Los
Angeles
County grand jury on charges of:

1.
Conspiracy to publish criminal libel; 2.
Conspiracy to
publish obscene and indecent material; 3.
Conspiracy to
disseminate information about abortion; 4.Conspiracyto disseminate
information about male
rejuvenation.A California Assistant
Attorney General has stated to the press: “In my opinion CONFIDENTIAL
is
finished.” This isa
determined effort, initiated
by a segment of the motion picture industry, to get this magazine. We bold no secrets from our
readers. In our first issue, nearly five years ago, we promised to
“publish •• the
facts”
and “name the names.” We have kept that promise; and our readers have
made us
successful. We have theworld’s
largest newsstand sale. We
sell more than three million copies per issue; and each copy,
conservatively,
is read by three adult, free Americans. Nine million Americans
are worthy of respect. We respect them. Our success is due to their
appreciation • of
our efforts to establish the truth and to maintain the
right for them
to hove the truth.We deal only in
truth; and here—frank and honest—is the truth about this effort to
‘get” us.

WE
ARE NOT
GUILTY OF “CONSPIRACY TO PUBLISH CRIMINAL LIBEL.”A precious and historic American
principle is this: truth may he distasteful but truth can neverhe libelous. In an American courtroom, under
the Stars-and-Stripes, thank God, truth stands as the unassailable
shield
against charges of libel. Our readers will note that
nowhere in the California allegations are we charged with falsehood. We are charged only with telling the
truth.We
are prepared to
prove the truth; and the hope of those who would “finish” us is that
they can
persuade an American jury that truth can he libelous We don’tbelieve
they can do it.

We believe that the truths we
have published-some
of them unpleasant for certain people —have
been in the
public ihnterest and in the best traditions of American journalism. Not maliciously do we publish
the truth about the homosexuality of a government official who held a
position
of high public trust. We don’t hate or despise such an official. We
want only
to keep faith with nine million Americans who are entitled to
the truth.

Free Americans have the
right to know how, at a time of great danger; scores of homosexuals -
admittedly grave security risks - came to infest our State Department. Is an American jurygoing
to “get” us for
daring to tell that truth? ... We don’t
believe so. A portion of the motion
picture industry has some political power because of dollar
contributions. Why
is this portion of the industry so anxious to “get” CONFIDENTAIL? Our readers know the answer, but
we’ll state it briefly. “Hollywood” is in the business
of lying. Falsehood is a stock in trade. They use vast press-agent
organizationsand advertising expenditures to “build up”
their “stars.”
They “glamorize”
and distribute detailed - and often deliberately false - information
about
private lives. Because of advertising money,
in these “build-ups” they have the cooperation of large segments of the
daily
press, many magazines, columnists, radio and TV. They have the
cooperation of
practically every medium exceptCONFIDENTIAL…
They can’t “influence” us, so they want to “get” us. The trouble with their
“build-ups” is that they create a phony atmosphere which spoils some of
those
who are “built-up,” From Fatty Arbuckle to Bergman-Rosellini, Hollywood
has had
trouble with its “spoiled darlings” who have decided that the rules for
“ordinary” mortals don’t apply to them. Some of these spoiled people
became Communists to show how big, bad, bold and unconventional they
are, others
have flaunted their sexual depravity. All we have done is “blow the whistle”
on a few of these spoiled ones. We have given the truth to our readers
who have
wanted and were entitled to the truth. And for this, Hollywood wants
to “get” CONFIDENTIAL. We know that an American jury
will decide in our favor.

WEARE NOT
GUILTYOF “CONSPIRACY TO DISTRIBUTE OBSCENE
AND INDECENT H MATERIAL.” Since its inception, CONFIDENTIAL has gone
through
the United States mails, a privilege that is denied to publications
which are
obscene and indecent. When has truth become “obscene and indecent’?” Is the book, Peyton Place,obscene
or indecent
when it details one sexual intercourse after another? Is Reader’s Digestobscene
and indecent when it instructs
women in how best to experience the act of love? Is Hollywood being obscene and
indecent when Baby Dollfinds
blessed release with the artful stranger in her husband’s absence? Obscenity and indecency depend
on purpose. Our purpose has been to tell the truth.

WEARE NOT
GUILTYOF
DISSEMINATING ILLEGAL INFORMATION ABOUT ABORTION.” Instead,
in our only article on this subject
we exposed the practices of criminal abortionists and warned women of
the
horrible risks and dangers involved.And as to “male rejuvenation,”
our interest has been the same as that of other American magazines.
Science is
seeking toprolong male
potency; and we have tried only to report the developments. We do not underestimate this effort to “get” us.
We concede
that those who
want to “finish” us are powerful and resourceful. They have some tricky
arguments; they are artists in the old three-shell game. But we expect to survive. For
we believe that even those Americans who may not like what we say will,
nevertheless, defend our right to say it. We doubt that the time has
arrived when Americans can be “gotten” for the crime of telling the
truth.